On August 18th, WWE announced that NXT UK was shutting down.
While usually this would be a disappointing thing, nobody really cared. Nobody watched the show, it was barely known in Britain, and it was formed as a way to try and kill wrestling in the UK.
WWE started NXT UK as a response to World of Sport’s return to ITV. They scooped up all the top talent they could, locking down the likes of Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate and Mark Andrews to long-term contracts.
It had horrendous viewership. Broadcast on TNT Sports (previously BT Sports), it generally attracted between 8,000 to 20,000 viewers. This is dreadful numbers, and it is clear that the show was not about making a money, but sending a message to the BritWres scene.
After a continued lack of interest, WWE decided to shut down the promotion in August 2022. They announced the creation of NXT Europe in the press release, but as of right now, there has been no new information regarding the new promotion.
However, the lack of viewers wasn’t the real reason why NXT UK ended.
Triple H Claims COVID Was To Blame For NXT UK Shutting Down
Triple H claims that COVID was the reason why NXT UK was ultimately shut down in 2022.
The global pandemic caused a lot of harm to the wrestling work when it hit in 2020. Many wrestlers struggled during this time, with most companies unable to run shows at all for months on end.
NXT UK was no different. Despite aiming to replicate NXT’s US success in the UK, the opportunity to rebrand NXT UK after the pandemic was just too difficult, and starting up NXT Europe was the more attractive option for the WWE.
“When we started NXT UK, the desire was to sort of replicate what we were doing in the U.S. and we got a start on it and then COVID hit and slowed everything down, and then we needed to rethink it.”
“So we got to a place where we were ready to go again, but it’s sort of tough to rebrand something and reboot it while you’re still running it. So we shut it down. As Europe evolves and grows, once we bring that back, I think we will begin to see it replicating a bit more of what you see in the U.S.”
NXT UK was nothing like the American equivalent. There was no UK performance center, and the structure was wildly different to NXT’s in Florida.
It was more similar to the actual WWE. They signed all the best British wrestlers they could, and didn’t allow them to wrestle any indie dates unless explicitly approved by management.
While they claim COVID was the reason why NXT was cancelled, it isn’t the entire story.
The Failure Of World Of Sport Has To Be A Factor
While Triple H didn’t admit it, the failure of the World of Sport reboot had to be a key reason why NXT UK was shut down.
NXT UK was only created as a direct response to ITV trying to bring back the wrestling. It hadn’t been a fixture on UK terrestrial television since ITV cancelled World of Sport in 1988. They gave “World of Sport Wrestling” a primetime slot on ITV1, with the hope that millions would tune in like they once did.
However, clearly nobody involved knew anything about wrestling. It was a sanitised, paint-by-numbers interpretation of what wrestling was. The gritty, underground feels of Progress and RevPro were thrown to the wayside.
It was more akin to Ninja Warrior or Gladiators than professional wrestling. It was one step away from having Ben Shepard and Chris Kamara as the tag team champions.
As soon as ITV cancelled the series, NXT UK served no purpose. There was no threat to the WWE’s monopoly in the UK (well, except for AEW a year later). NXT UK just spun its wheels until COVID happened, and was shut down in 2022 with little fanfare.
Brexit May Have Been Responsible
One thing that cannot be ignored is Brexit, although its responsibility is just conjecture at this moment in time.
Some people have theorised that, since the UK officially left the European Union in 2020, the WWE saw more benefits by running a promotion in mainland Europe than in Great Britain.
There have been claims that it would be too difficult to bring European talent over to the UK since the change in rules in January 2020. This would, in theory, mean that they wouldn’t be able to bring stars like Ilja Dragunov and GUNTHER to NXT UK, under the new rules.
However, we do not know this for sure. WWE have not commented on Brexit’s effect on the brand. They did set up the company after the referendum in 2016, so it’s not like it came as a surprise to Triple H and company.
